In order to prevent the erosion of existing shorelines (and, in some instances, to recover lost shorelines) situated on ocean fronts, lakes and rivers, retaining walls, called bulkheads in the industry, have been erected at the shoreline or the sought after shoreline to control the effect of the encroaching water. In the past, such bulkheads have been made of asbestos cement, concrete, wood, steel or metal alloy, and, most recently, aluminum panels. All these prior art bulkhead materials and the bulkheads fabricated from them have drawbacks which are well known in the art. For example, asbestos cement, concrete and wood crack under stress or impact. Wood tends to rot over a period of time, and steel (and its alloys) rusts. The steel and aluminum panels bend or dent upon impact and are seriously subject to corrosion, particularly in those environments in which salt water is found. The installation of bulkheads consisting of metal panels is difficult and somewhat dangerous due to the necessity to handle the panels with their inherently sharp edges. Bulkheads made of all the foregoing materials are expensive to fabricate and install, and, in the case of the metal panels, a further difficulty is experienced in maintaining the integrity of the joints between adjacent panels.
The present invention is directed to systematically addressing and overcoming all these problems well known to the prior art bulkheads.